Adjustable-Sized GLove

ABSTRACT

The inventor discloses a glove having a disc located on a wearer&#39;s wrist, such that the disc may be wrapped along the wearer&#39;s hand and cause the glove to be rolled up the back of the wearer&#39;s hand. The disc may be permanently or detachably secured to the glove. The disc allows people with various hand sizes to wear a one-size-fits-all glove while snugly securing the glove to the wearer&#39;s hand, preventing contamination and increasing finger dexterity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent App. No.61/863,412, filed on Aug. 7, 2013.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention is the field of gloves and protective handwear for peoplein environments where protection against contaminants, chemicals, orskin irritants is important.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

While “one-size-fits-all” gloves are commonly sold and used in a numberof industries to promote sterility, cleanliness, and safety, such glovesare generally a large size to accommodate even the largest hands.However, for people with smaller hands, the uni-sized glove oftenresults in excess fabric that hangs loosely about the wrist, creatingthe potential for contaminated or dirty substances to accidentally enterthe opening of the glove near the wrist. Additionally, the excessmaterial can inhibit the wearer from making fine or sensitive use of hisfingers. Such actions are particularly necessary in medical procedures,such as surgery, where a doctor's or nurse's hands must be especiallycareful to prevent complications during the operation. Where suchdexterity is required, it is common to use and purchase gloves ofdifferent sizes to accommodate variously sized hands. This results inadded expense for the employer, such as a hospital or janitorialservices company, which must keep a large variety of glove sizesavailable for its staff. Therefore, a need exists for a single-size,“one-size-fits-all” glove that can be adjusted by the wearer to snuglyfit against the hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

It should be noted that identical features in different drawings areshown with the same reference numeral.

FIG. 1 depicts a medical glove worn by a user, palm-side up.

FIG. 2 depicts a medical glove with the circular apparatus over thewrist, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 depicts a view of the medical glove with the circular apparatusrolled up over a user's hand, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a sterile, “one-size-fits-all” medical glove 5 as worn bya doctor, nurse, or other medical staff Medical gloves are typicallymade of latex, though any impermeable, flexible, and stretchablematerial may suffice to form a glove 5. For simplicity, the glove 5 asfurther described herein is referred to as a “latex” glove, but theglove may be made of many other materials. The glove 5 has a handsection 15 with a wrist section 30 extending a short distance over thewearer's wrist. An opening 20 at the end of the wrist section 30 allowsthe wearer to insert his hand Five fingers 10 are located across fromthe opening 20 to enclose the wearer's fingers. In FIG. 1, the glove isshown as loose-fitting, because “one-size-fits-all” gloves are generallycreated large enough to fit a hand of any size. However, for users withsmaller hands, the glove fingers 10 do not snugly enclose the wearer'sfingers, and there is substantial leftover latex material.

FIG. 2 depicts the top side of a medical glove according to anembodiment as further described herein. The glove has a top 25 forcovering the back of the wearer's hand. Located in the wrist section 30is a disc 35. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, the disc is securedto the latex glove. For example, the glove 5 may have two or more layersof material and the disc may be inserted between the layers and securedtherein. Alternatively, the disc may be glued, taped, or otherwisefastened to the latex. The disc 35 may be constructed of any solid,rigid, or semi-rigid material. Where the glove 5 is used in medicallysterile environments, chemically inert substances such as hard plasticswould be most suitable. However, in non-sterile environments, any firm,solid material to form the disc 35 is sufficient.

In other embodiments, the disc 35 may be separate from the latex glove5. To secure the disc 35 to the glove 5, the wearer places the disc 35over the top of the wrist section 30 near the opening 20 and rolls thelatex over the disc 35, as further described below. A separate disc 35may be desired if the discs 35 are to be sold separately from the gloves5, allowing the method described herein to be used with any latex gloveavailable to the wearer.

The wearer may roll the disc 35 up the back of the hand in order tocollect excess latex material and pull the fingers 10 of the glovesnugly against the wearer's fingers. First, if the glove 5 does not havea disc 35 secured to it, the wearer places the disc 35 over the wristsection 30 near the opening 20 and wraps the edge 40 over one end of thedisc 35. If the disc 35 is already secured to the latex, this first stepis not necessary. Next, the wearer wraps the disc 35 end-over-end up theback of the hand. The wrist section 30 and excess latex material isrolled up the back of the hand as the disc 35 is wrapped end-over-end.The remaining latex is pulled snug against the wearer's hands andfingers.

FIG. 3 shows the disc 35 rolled up the back of the wearer's hand. Asdepicted, excess latex 45 is rolled up the back of the wearer's hand andkept in place by the disk 35. This gently pulls the remaining latexsnugly against the wearer's hand, thereby providing the wearer with afitted glove 5 appropriate for fine hand and finger movements as neededin medical examinations, surgeries, procedures, and the like.

The disc 35 is of a size and shape to both prevent puncturing or tearingthe latex and prevent the disc 35 from coming inadvertently unrolledduring use. The disc 35 should also be small enough to allow for severalwraps along the back of the hand, in order to accommodate variouslysized hands. It has been determined that a circular disc 35 roughly 1.25inches in diameter is both large enough to prevent inadvertentunrolling, small enough to be sensitive for use with a number of hands,and unlikely to tear or puncture the latex. However, any size disc 35that can fit on the back of the wearer's hand or wrist would beacceptable, and discs 35 ranging from 0.25-2 inches are sufficient.Additionally, while the disc 35 depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 is circular,other shapes (such as ovals, ellipses, or other shapes having roundededges) may be used.

After use, if the disc 35 is separate from the glove 5, it may be savedfor future use. Otherwise, the disc 35 may be disposed along with therest of the glove 5. While the glove 5 has been described particularlywith reference to medical personnel, the advantages of the glove 5 maybe used for any job where snug gloves are necessary or desirable, suchas janitorial services, garbage collection, or laboratories.

The advantages of the glove 5 and disc 35 described herein includeproviding a “one-size-fits-all” glove that can be individually sized toa wearer's hand, regardless of the size of the glove itself.Additionally the “one-size-fits-all” glove allows the wearer to snuglypull the material against the fingers, increasing dexterity for fine orcareful motor movements needed for sensitive operations. Furthermore,the glove may be used in environments that required closed offprotection of the hand to prevent contamination of the hand, while notunduly exposing the wearer's skin. For example the glove may be used inenvironments where harmful chemicals or fumes are present, orpotentially in sterile environments, in order to prevent contact withcontaminants (e.g., bodily fluids, chemicals, blood, etc.).

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of thisdisclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised whichdo not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed here.

I claim:
 1. A glove comprising: a palm section covering the fingers andpalm area of the wearer's hand; a wrist section attached to the palmsection and covering the section of the wrist below the palm area; and adisc secured to the back of the wrist section, the disc sized to wrapexcess material in the wrist section along the back of a wearer's handin order to tighten the fit of the palm section.
 2. The glove of claim1, wherein the disc has rounded edges.
 3. The glove of claim 2, whereinthe disc is circular.
 4. The glove of claim 1, wherein the disc isdetachable from the wrist section.
 5. The glove of claim 4, wherein thedisc is secured to the wrist section by wrapping an edge of the glovearound the disc.
 6. The glove of claim 1, wherein the disc has adiameter between 0.25 and 2 inches.
 7. The glove of claim 6, wherein thedisc has a diameter of 1.25 inches.
 8. The glove of claim 1, wherein thedisc is secured to the wrist section by being inserted between twolayers of material of the glove overlaying the wrist section of theglove.
 9. The glove of claim 1, wherein the disc is adhesively securedto the wrist section.
 10. The glove of claim 1, wherein the disc isformed of rigid plastic.
 11. The glove of claim 1, wherein the glove isformed of latex.
 12. A latex glove comprising: a palm section coveringthe fingers and palm area of the wearer's hand; a wrist section attachedto the palm section and covering the section of the wrist below the palmarea; and a circular disc of rigid plastic and having a diameter between0.25 and 2 inches, secured to the back of the wrist section, the discsized to wrap excess material in the wrist section along the back of awearer's hand in order to tighten the fit of the palm section.
 13. Alatex glove comprising: a palm section covering the fingers and palmarea of the wearer's hand; a wrist section attached to the palm sectionand covering the section of the wrist below the palm area; and means forwrapping excess glove material in the wrist section along the back ofthe wearer's hand in order to tighten the fit of the palm section.